Bibliography - Social and family topics: Women
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Work in Brighton; or, Woman's mission to women, by Ellice Hopkins, published 1877 (vi + 84 pp., London: Hatchards) accessible at: British Library

Ladies' Associations for the care of friendless girls. Being an account of the work in Brighton [Reprinted from "The Day of Rest."], by Ellice Hopkins, published 1878 (London) accessible at: British Library

Female Apparel in Sussex in 1561, by Frederick E. Sawyer, published 1883 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 33, notes & queries, pp.271-272) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 2118] & The Keep [LIB/500251] & S.A.S. library   View Online

St. Mildred's Convalescent Home. A home for friendless girls at Bexhill-on-Sea, by Saint Mildred's Convalescent Home, published 1895 (reprinted from the "Bexhill Chronicle", Bexhill) accessible at: British Library

Female Head-Dresses. Exemplified by Sussex Brasses, by J. L. André, published 1899 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 42, article, pp.1-18) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 2127] & The Keep [LIB/500260] & S.A.S. library   View Online

Gardening for Women, by Viscountess Wolseley, published 1908 (London: Cassell & Co. Ltd.) accessible at: West Sussex Libraries   View Online

Women and the Land, by Viscountess Wolseley, published 1916 (London: Chatto & Windus) accessible at: West Sussex Libraries

The Life of Sophia Jex-Blake, by Margaret Todd, M.D., published 1918 (xviii + 574 pp., London: Macmillan & Co. Ltd.) accessible at: British Library   View Online

Sophia Jex-Blake (1840-1912) was born in Hastings and died in Rotherfield. She was a pioneer in woman's education and was the first woman to practise as a doctor in Scotland

Charlotte Smith, Sussex Poet, by Kenneth Povey, published 1927 in Sussex County Magazine (vol. I no. 13, article, pp.567-571) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 2303][Lib 8326] & The Keep [LIB/500137]

Sussex and the Women's Institutes, by L. F. Ramsay, published 1928 in Sussex County Magazine (vol. II no. 3, article, pp.99-101) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 9327] & The Keep [LIB/500138]

The County Rally of the West Sussex Women's Institutes, by L. F. Ramsay, published 1928 in Sussex County Magazine (vol. II no. 8, article, pp.375-377) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 9327] & The Keep [LIB/500138]

Some Women Artists, by Lady Kate, published 1929 in Sussex County Magazine (vol. III no. 11, article, p.804) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 2307] & The Keep [LIB/500140]

Townswomen's Guilds in Sussex, by Linda M. Enthoven, published 1931 in Sussex County Magazine (vol. V no. 4, article, pp.291-292) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 2310] & The Keep [LIB/500174]

Female Dress on Sussex Brasses, by C. Davidson-Houston and Fred Pulley, published 1932 in Sussex County Magazine (vol. VI no. 4, article, pp.216-223) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 9325] & The Keep [LIB/500175]

Sussex and the Girl Guide movement, by A Brighton Signaller Ranger, published 1932 in Sussex County Magazine (vol. VI no. 5, article, pp.317-318) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 9325] & The Keep [LIB/500175]

An 18th Century Woman Gaoler [Ann Smart], by Wray Hunt, published 1932 in Sussex County Magazine (vol. VI no. 6, article, p.393) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 9325] & The Keep [LIB/500175]

Miss Sheila Kaye-Smith's Sussex Poems, by Harold Van Tromp, published 1933 in Sussex County Magazine (vol. VII no. 1, article, pp.49-53) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 2312] & The Keep [LIB/500176]

Elsa Russell More, by L. F. Cumming, published 1933 in Sussex County Magazine (vol. VII no. 7, article, p.441) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 2312] & The Keep [LIB/500176]

Mrs Steere, the Lewes Grave-Digger, by M. L. Scott, published 1933 in Sussex County Magazine (vol. VII no. 9, article, pp.611-612) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 2312] & The Keep [LIB/500176]

Charlotte Smith, Sussex Poet, by Harold Van Tromp, published 1933 in Sussex County Magazine (vol. VII no. 10, article, pp.634-638) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 2312] & The Keep [LIB/500176]

Women Surgeons, by W. D. P. [W. D. Peckham], published November 1933 in Sussex Notes & Queries (vol. IV no. 8, note, p.245) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 2203][Lib 8222][Lib 8861] & The Keep [LIB/500206] & S.A.S. library

Hastings & St Leonards Ladies College, by S.C.M. Contributor(s), published 1934 in Sussex County Magazine (vol. VIII no. 3, article, p.197) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 9329] & The Keep [LIB/500177]

A Girls' School at Lewes, 100 years ago, by Maude Robinson, published 1934 in Sussex County Magazine (vol. VIII no. 7, article, pp.427-432) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 9329] & The Keep [LIB/500178]

Some Lady Recluses of Sussex in the XIIIth Century, by Rev. Henry E. B. Arnold, M.A., published 1934 in Sussex County Magazine (vol. VIII no. 8, article, pp.506-510) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 9329] & The Keep [LIB/500178]

The Charm of Chamandean: An Ideal School for Girls, by S.C.M. Contributor(s), published 1936 in Sussex County Magazine (vol. X no. 6, article, pp.435-436) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 2315][Lib 9331] & The Keep [LIB/500181]

Elizabeth Gilbert: A Blind Helper of the Blind, by R. S. T. Haslehurst, published 1936 in Sussex County Magazine (vol. X no. 12, article, pp.797-798) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 2315][Lib 9331] & The Keep [LIB/500181]

Green Cinderellas of West Sussex, by W. Victor Cook, published 1945 in Sussex County Magazine (vol. xix, article, pp.240-243) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 2324] & The Keep [LIB/500191]

A quarter of a century of Women's Institutes in East Sussex, by Marjorie E. M. Walton, published 1947 (33 pp., Hove: Combridges) accessible at: British Library

Women Doctors of the World, by Esther Pohl Lovejoy, published 1957 (413 pp., Macmillan)

Changing attitudes to the employment of women and children on the land between the 1830s and 1870s, with particular reference to the County of Sussex, by E. M. Ainsworth, 1970 at Sussex University (M.A. thesis)

West Sussex as seen through the eyes of the W.I., edited by Elizabeth Anderson, published 1975 (144 pp., West Sussex Federation of Women's Institutes, ISBN-10: 0950492000 & ISBN-13: 9780950492001) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [AM 240/5/3] & West Sussex Libraries & East Sussex Libraries

East Sussex Federation of Women's Institutes, 1919-1979: a short history, by Marjorie Steward, published 1979 (iv + 40 pp & 4 pp. of plates, Lewes: East Sussex Federation of Women's Institutes) accessible at: British Library & West Sussex Libraries & East Sussex Libraries

A Girls' School for Cuckfield in the 1860s, by Maisie Wright, published January 1979 in West Sussex History, the Journal of West Sussex Archives Society (no. 12, article, p.10) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 16404/12] & The Keep [LIB/500479]

The History of the Chichester City Townswomen's Guild, 1933-1983, by Muriel Ogden, published 1983 (booklet) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 8711]

Gender and environment: Reproduction in post war Brighton, by S. D. MacKenzie, 1983 at Sussex University (Ph.D. thesis)

Women and Loneliness, by Dorothy Jerrome and the Hastings Women's Study Group, published 1984 (Occasional papers, no. 21, 87 pp., Centre for Continuing Education, University of Sussex, ISBN-10: 0904242242 & ISBN-13: 9780904242249) accessible at: West Sussex Libraries & East Sussex Libraries

Housing and women in Brighton and Hove : a local examination of national issues, by Rachel Lickiss, published 1987 (80 pp., Brighton: Lewis Cohen Urban Studies Centre at Brighton Polytechnic, ISBN-10: 0948992026 ) accessible at: British Library & West Sussex Libraries

One Camp Chair in the Living Room: A Woman's Life in Rottingdean, by Margaret Ward, published July 1988 (53 pp., Brighton: QueenSpark Books, ISBN-10: 0904733157 & ISBN-13: 9780904733150) accessible at: The Keep archive of QueenSpark Books & East Sussex Libraries

Born in 1916, Margaret Ward describes her life as a 'winding lane' because of the many twists and turns it has taken. Her autobiography describes her childhood in Rottingdean, growing up amongst a loving family in the picturesque Sussex seaside village. For Margaret, 'nowhere in the world is there such a lovely place' to grow up.
Her story moves from childhood, through adolescence and working life to her eventual retirement. She recounts the inevitable good and bad times that she experienced, in her story of family life in a close-knit community of a trusting bygone age, when villagers knew and trusted their neighbours, and could leave their doors open or let their children roam freely outdoors.

Women in Science: Antiquity through Nineteenth Century A Biographical Dictionary with Annotated Bibliography , by Marilyn Bailey Ogilvie, published 15 August 1990 (272 pp., M.I.T. Press, ISBN-10: 026265038X & ISBN-13: 9780262650380)

West Sussex Within Living Memory, by West Sussex Federation of Women's Institutues, published 1993 (Berkshire: Countryside Books) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 16022]

Fine Harvest: Sussex (Women at War), by Daphne Byrne, published 1 August 1993 (Stylus Press Publications, ISBN-10: 1856204960 & ISBN-13: 9781856204965)

Sophia Jex-Blake: A Woman Pioneer in Nineteenth Century Medical Reform, by Shirley Roberts, published 21 October 1993 (The Wellcome Institute series in the history of medicine, x + 207 pp., London: Routledge, ISBN-10: 0415087538 & ISBN-13: 9780415087537) accessible at: British Library & East Sussex Libraries

Sophia Jex-Blake (1840-1912) was born in Hastings and died in Rotherfield. She led the campaign that won for British women the right to enter the medical profession. Before taking up this cause she had studied women's education in England, Germany and the United states, and rejected the popular contemporary view that higher education would be wasted on women. Her medical crusade in Britain resulted in women's rights to professional careers and financial independence being more widely accepted.
After years of extensive lobbying, she founded the London School of Medicine for Women in 1874 and two years later, largely due to her efforts, legislation was passed enabling women to take qualifying examinations in medicine. Shirley Roberts shows Sophia Jex-Blake to have been a determined and resourceful pioneer, skilful in winning over both public and political opinion. But she was also an impetuous and at times tactless woman, who could provoke hostility, as well as loyalty. Sophia Jex-Blake is a fascinating account of one woman's struggle for equality.

Sussex Women, famous, infamous, unsung, by Sharon Searle, published July 1995 (160 pp., Tunbridge Wells: J. A. K. Books, ISBN-10: 0952349124 & ISBN-13: 9780952349129) accessible at: West Sussex Libraries & East Sussex Libraries

Ladies of Miller's, by Diana Crook, published 18 November 1996 (50 pp., Dale House Press, ISBN-10: 1900841010 & ISBN-13: 9781900841016) accessible at: The Keep [LIB/502870] & West Sussex Libraries & East Sussex Libraries

The Participation of Women in the Journal 'Sussex Archaeological Collections' 1900 - 1950, by Pauline Phillips, published 1998 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 136, article, pp.133-148) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 13921] & The Keep [LIB/500297] & S.A.S. library

A woman's place 1974 - 1999: a celebration of women's lives in Brighton over the last 25 years, by Women's Words, published 1 March 1998 (122 pp., Brighton: Open-Sez-Me Books, ISBN-10: 1874548307 & ISBN-13: 9781874548300) accessible at: British Library

Daughters, Wives and Widows after the Black Death: Women in Sussex, 1350-1535, by Mavis E. Mate, published 2 April 1998 (235 pp., Boydell Press, ISBN-10: 0851155340 & ISBN-13: 9780851155340) accessible at: The Keep [LIB/500095] & West Sussex Libraries & East Sussex Libraries

It has long been thought that the post Black Death period offered unparallelled opportunities for women. However, through a careful consideration of economic and legal changes affecting women of all social classes and conditions, the author shows that this was not the case, taking issue with orthodox opinion. She argues that marriage at a late age was not customary for women, and that the ability of wives to supplement their income with intermittent paid labour (at harvest time, for example) was not so great as has been supposed: rather, most married women spent more time on unpaid agricultural labour on their own land than their peers had done in the pre-plague economy. Professor Mate also demonstrates that there is little evidence to support the current belief that widowhood was the period in a woman's life when she enjoyed most power, freedom, and independence; moreover, legal changes were a mixed blessing for women, leaving some widows with a larger portion and a more secure title to land, but totally depriving others. Throughout, the book pays much attention to class as well as gender, showing how many things were determined by it, from what a woman wore or ate to the age at which she married, her power within the household, and even her vulnerability to rape

The Worthing Connection: Marian Frost, Pioneer Woman Librarian, and the Two Committees of Women Librarians 1913-15, by C. Baggs and others, published May 1999 in Gendering library history (article, pp.40-56) accessible at: British Library

Corduroy Days: A Portrait of Life in the Women's Land Army, by Josephine Duggan Rees, published 31 January 2000 (226 pp., Woodfield Publishing, ISBN-10: 1873203489 & ISBN-13: 9781873203484)

An Army in the Fields, by Mary Squires, published 1 November 2000 (129 pp., Minerva Press, ISBN-10: 0754113701 & ISBN-13: 9780754113706) accessible at: British Library

Women of Victorian Hastings, 1830 - 1870, by Helena Wojtczak, published 2002 (184 pp., Hastings Press, ISBN-10: 1904109020 & ISBN-13: 9781904109020) accessible at: British Library & East Sussex Libraries

Notable Women of Victorian Hastings: Some Mini-biographies, by Helena Wojtczak, published 13 April 2002 (3rd edition, 87 pp., Hastings Press, ISBN-10: 1904109039 & ISBN-13: 9781904109037) accessible at: British Library & East Sussex Libraries

A Little School on the Downs: The Story of pioneer educationalisy Harriet Finlay Johnson, headmistress at Sompting School, West Sussex, 1897-1910, by Mary Bowmaker, published 1 December 2002 (136 pp., Woodfield Publishing, ISBN-10: 1903953308 & ISBN-13: 9781903953303) accessible at: West Sussex Libraries

In the early years of the 20th century, the village school at Sompting (on the South Downs just north of Worthing) became the focus of national and international interest due to the modern ideas of its headmistress, Harriet Finlay Johnson, whose liberal approach to teaching challenged the authoritarian methods commonly in use at the time.
Having taken up her post as headmistress at Sompting school in 1897, Harriet introduced such items as nature rambles, educational visits, library mornings, lessons out of doors, cookery, handicraft, art and drama into the curriculum, and allowed her pupils a degree of freedom and autonomy that was unheard of in other Victorian schools.
The results were so remarkable that educationalists from far and wide were soon making their way to Sussex to see Harriet's school for themselves. Many of them liked what they saw, and Harriet's ideas were subsequently put into practice by other teachers in the United Kingdom and elsewhere. In time they would become integral to almost every school curriculum.
But then, in 1909, just as it seemed she had the world of education at her feet, Harriet's glittering career came to a premature end when she announced her intention to marry 20-year-old George Weller, a former pupil 17 years her junior.
Despite the fact that there was nothing improper about their relationship and that Harriet and her husband would remain happily married until George's death in 1952, the scandal was too much for the authorities at the time and Harriet was forced to leave the job she loved so much. She would never enter a classroom again.
However, this was not the end of her story, because she now had time to write a book expounding the ideas she had formulated during her 12 years as a teaching practitioner. The book, entitled The Dramatic Method of Teaching, attracted a great deal of attention in educational circles and influenced the thinking of teachers as far away as the USA and Japan. Harriet's small place in history was assured.
Mary Bowmaker has gathered a wealth of information from a variety of sources, including interviews with former pupils and surviving members of Harriet's family, to tell the whole story of Harriet's short but highly influential career for the first time.
It is a fascinating and entertaining insight into the character of an extraordinary woman who, in twelve short years, managed to make a little school on the downs the focus of international interest and acclaim - a truly remarkable feat.

Mistress of the House: Great Ladies and Grand House, 1670-1830, by Rosemary Baird, published 10 July 2003 (336 pp., Weidenfeld & Nicolson, ISBN-10: 0297830783 & ISBN-13: 9780297830788) accessible at: West Sussex Libraries & East Sussex Libraries

There is an insatiable interest in well-written books with a wealth of new source material and a vigorous standpoint on the place of women in history, in this case their roles as wives, chatelaines and keepers-up of fashion in decoration and entertainment in the great Power Houses of Britain. Large town houses and country estates were created in the large part to overawe and to reinforce social and political prestige; with that went the presentational requirements needed to impress: fashion in clothes, carriages and entertainment, and in terms of an appropriate backdrop, lavish interiors and exotoc gardens. Rosemary Baird has selected 10 women whose married state as consorts to powerful men required them to take on a wide variety of roles. This is a fascinating account of their lives, taken very often from diaries, letters and new research in family archives.

Women of Victorian Sussex: Their status, occupations and dealings with the law, by Helena Wojtczak, published 9 December 2003 (256 pp., Hastings Press, ISBN-10: 1904109055 & ISBN-13: 9781904109051) accessible at: West Sussex Libraries & East Sussex Libraries

Loving the fishing? perspectives on the lives of the women of the Hastings fishing community, by Beatrice Clover, published 2005 (33 pp., Old Hastings Presrvation Society) accessible at: The Keep [LIB/507981] & East Sussex Libraries

Perspectives on the lives of women of the Hastings fishing community; this is memories and views from voices not usually heard. Published in 2004 it is based on interviews collected by Beatrice in 1994

Railway women: Exploitation, Betrayal and Triumph in the Workplace, by Helena Wojtczak, published 2005 (384 pp., Hastings Press, ISBN-10: 1904109047 & ISBN-13: 9781904109044) accessible at: West Sussex Libraries & East Sussex Libraries

With a compelling combination of humour and indignation, Helena Wojtczak reveals the untold story of the British railwaywoman, charting her progress from exploited drudge in the 1830s to steam engine driver by the 21st century, using an engrossing collage of historic and contemporary documents, photographs, official reports and vivid personal testimonies.
Within the first two chapters we enter a world of sabotage, gruesome fatalities, pig-stealing, transvestism, murder, train crashes, a shipwreck, bombs, capture by the enemy, strikes, anti-woman agitation, heroic acts and tragic deaths.
As we trace the steps of women staking their place in one of Britain's largest and most well-known industries, we learn of abysmal exploitation and shameful betrayal. Ultimately the story develops - via the crashing of male bastions, accompanied by appalling harassment - into one of triumph.

Brighton Women's Peace Camp, 1983: Second Wave Feminism and the Womens Peace Movement, by Sam Carroll, published 2005 in Journal of Contemporary History (vol. 8, Winter issue, article)

Brighton Women's Peace Camp was set up on a stretch of land known as ?the Level' in Brighton on 15th February 1983. It was one of many short lived satellite camps that appeared throughout the U.K in support of Greenham Common Women's Peace Camp. This article explores the oral narratives of two women who were involved in the Brighton camp. By examining their motivations, conflicts, resolutions and reflections, this paper illustrates the participants personal and collective identities and how these have evolved over time. Their stories reveal that experiences within the camp strongly reflect some of the experiences and issues raised in research about Greenham; especially concerning the camp's purpose, it's limitations of involvement and it's public face. Many of these issues indicate the wider feminist debates of the time such as the conflicts of Socialist Feminism and Radical Feminism and the emergence of identity politics. This is a small scale, qualitative study which brings to light a previously ignored event in local history.

Working Below Potential: Women and part-time work in West Sussex, by Linda Grant and others, published June 2006 (Gender and Employment in Local Labour Markets Research Programme Series 2, iv + 22 pp., Sheffield: Centre for Social Inclusion, Sheffield Hallam University, ISBN-10: 1843871831 & ISBN-13: 9781843871835) accessible at: British Library

Addressing Women's Poverty in West Sussex: Local Labour Market Initiatives , by Frances Leviston, Karen Escott, Charles M. Price and L. Buckner, published 1 June 2006 (Gender and Employment in Local Labour Markets Research Programme Series 6, iv + 26 pp., Sheffield: Sheffield Hallam University, ISBN-10: 1843872064 & ISBN-13: 9781843872061) accessible at: British Library

Women's Hospitals in Brighton and Hove: The Story of The Lady Chichester Hospital and The New Sussex Hospital, by Val Brown, published 1 October 2006 (Hastings Press, ISBN-10: 1904109098 & ISBN-13: 9781904109099) accessible at: The Keep [LIB/502165] & East Sussex Libraries

In 1898 two young women doctors arrived in Hove and nervously set up in general practice. Twenty eventful years later Brighton & Hove had two women's hospitals. This book is a unique blend of social and local history set against a vivid backdrop of Edwardian Brighton, World War I, and the struggle for women to forge a place in public life.

A Village W.I.: Ditchling - the first 90 years, by Jean Morley, published 2007 (35 pp., Ditchling Society, ISBN-10: 0951622307 & ISBN-13: 9780951622308) accessible at: The Keep [LIB/509233] & West Sussex Libraries & East Sussex Libraries

Hay, hops and harvest: women's work in agriculture in nineteenth-century Sussex, by Nicola Verdon, published 19 April 2007 in Women's Work in Industrial England: Regional and Local Perspectives (edited by Nigel Goose, pp.76-96, Local Population Studies Society, ISBN-10: 0954162110 & ISBN-13: 9780954162115)

Sussex Women, by Ann Kramer, published 1 September 2007 (96 pp., Snake River Press, ISBN-10: 1906022070 & ISBN-13: 9781906022075) accessible at: West Sussex Libraries & East Sussex Libraries

Conservative women, the Primrose league and public activity in Surrey and Sussex, C. 1880 - 1902 , by Christine Margaret Jesman, 2008 at Sussex University (Ph.D. thesis)

The failure of Conservative women to openly contest the public space has resulted in their marginalisation within studies of late nineteenth century female social action and this is particularly evident in the limited historiography of women's local government experiences. This thesis explores the neglected role of Conservative women and suggests the existing framework of research. structured around organised m-ban philanthropy and the women's suffrage movement fails to accommodate their contribution. Using a local study, based on grass-roots Conservative political action in the rural south east of England, an alternative approach is adopted; one that interweaves the Primrose League and female local government work to enable the re-writing of Conservative women into narratives of public activity.

Ragged Lands: Viscountess Wolseley's College for Lady Gardeners, Glynde, by Diana Crook, published 1 March 2008 (67 pp., Dale House Press, ISBN-10: 1900841053 & ISBN-13: 9781900841054) accessible at: The Keep [LIB/502707] & West Sussex Libraries & East Sussex Libraries

First printed in a limited edition in 2002, this many-layered story of a pioneering College for Lady Gardeners before and during WWI is now available in expanded form. The College was created by the Hon Frances Wolseley, daughter of an illustrious military father. Pampered in childhood, as she moved to maturity her parents rejected and disinherited her. The enterprise resulted largely from her attempt to deal with their quixotic if mannered brutality. She found generous friends and sponsors; her Victorian upbringing had given her the moral high ground and an obligation to public service; crucially though she had a love of the practical and spiritual elements of gardens and gardening. What she had learnt from the (male) gardeners at stately homes throughout her youth, combined with her own aesthetic sense to inform a conviction that women made the best supervising gardeners.
She developed a school to help women (of the right class) learn the business of professional gardening. The creation of an Italianate garden at Glynde near Lewes, where students could gain practical experience, provides the setting for a large and eccentric cast. New material in this edition includes extracts from Frances Wolseley's private diaries that show a small community with a ritualised regime of uniquely designed ceremonies, uniforms, and punishments. This evolved from a mixture of military and nautical influences although an attempt to include men as students was short lived; having established the garden to her satisfaction the predominant struggle was with what Viscountess Wolseley described as the "endless vagaries of the female mind".

Notable Sussex Women: 580 Biographical Sketches, by Helena Wojtczak, published 1 June 2008 (304 pp., Hastings Press, ISBN-10: 1904109152 & ISBN-13: 9781904109150) accessible at: R.I.B.A. Library & West Sussex Libraries & East Sussex Libraries

A real plum pudding of a book! Whatever page you open there's either a fascinating mini-biography or photographs of the women or of the houses where they lived. The book also includes some short articles on aspects of women's lives. Apart from the introductory articles, photographs and indexes, it is arranged by locality. Within the three main sections - West Sussex, Brighton and Hove, and East Sussex - the entries are in alphabetical order of place-names, though there is a separate alphabetical index of all the subjects.
Self-obsessed, I turned to West Hoathly, where my grandmother lived as a child. There are two entries, a potter and an art historian, both way up the social scale from my dear Granny. And this, perhaps, reveals an inevitable omission. As the author tells us, 95% of the women described were born into the middle and upper classes.
The only working class woman I spotted was Margaret Powell, whom I remember broadcasting on BBC Woman's Hour during the fifties and sixties. Margaret went into service aged 15, but by going to evening classes gained the necessary literacy skills to write and have published her memoirs Below Stairs, a book about her mother, a biography of Prince Albert, and four novels. Her former home at 222 Old Shoreham Road, Brighton has a blue plaque.
Down the margins of the introductory articles there are various put-down quotes from men, but also a succinct one from Lizz Winstead: 'I think, therefore I am single'. The book covers an approximate timespan of 1800 to 1950. Thank goodness times have changed!

Land Girls: Cinderellas of the Soil, by Amy de la Haye, published 1 October 2009 (64 pp., Brighton: Royal Pavilion, Libraries & Museums, ISBN-10: 0948723726 & ISBN-13: 9780948723728) accessible at: West Sussex Libraries & East Sussex Libraries

This book accompanied the recent and very popular exhibition at Brighton Art Gallery and Museum which focused on the personal stories of the land girls who were trained, lived and worked on the Sussex Downs and surrounding areas during both World wars. This is worth looking at if you are interested in the topic and period, and what happened in Sussex in 1914-1918 when there was a Women's Land Army, and then in more depth, the revival of the WLA in 1939 when they became known as the Land Girls. In 1939, Balcombe Place was the national HQ of the Women's Land Army, Lady Denman was the Honorary Director and they were trained at Plumpton Agricultural College. Local women are featured in the catalogue and so is their distinctive uniform, especially those amazing breeches! Many of the photographs from the Second World War show cheerful photogenic girls; one has to wonder how much thought went into this, especially after a look at the photographs of what they wore.

Edith Bevan and the Mid Sussex Suffragists, by Frances Stenlake, published 12 November 2009 (96 pp., Unicorn Press Publishing Group, ISBN-10: 1906509107 & ISBN-13: 9781906509101) accessible at: The Keep [LIB/501547] & West Sussex Libraries & East Sussex Libraries

Brighton Born, Sussex Bred: The Story of Brighton's Maternity Hospitals 1830-2007 , by Harry Gaston, published 20 September 2011 (156 pp., Newhaven: Southern Editorial Services, ISBN-10: 0955846730 & ISBN-13: 9780955846731) accessible at: The Keep [LIB/502167] & East Sussex Libraries

A hundred years ago a dozen women died in childbirth every day. Hospitals were especially dangerous places, so many women succumbing to childbed fever (later called puerperal sepsis) usually transmitted by a midwife or obstetrician. No wonder that the original Sussex Maternity Hospital did not actually admit women, preferring to send midwives to deliver them in their own homes. Today, its successor hospital, the Royal Sussex County, deals with the vast majority of confinement in the city. Brighton Born, Sussex Bred tells how this change took place. Tracing the history of the maternity wards on three Brighton hospitals it shows how hospitals have become the preferred choice for many women, while at the same time providing the services of midwives to women who choose a home birth. The change from the days of Dickens Sarah Gamp and the old workhouses is to be expected. But what will surprise many readers are the changes that have taken place in living memory so vividly illustrated by the reminiscences of thirty local midwives and mothers from the 1950s and 60s that are included in the book.

Breastfeeding at 6-8 weeks in East Sussex, 2010/11, by Jennifer Broome-Smith, published November 2011   Download PDF

Keeping House in Horsham in 1760 - The Diary and Account Book of Elizabeth Smart of North Chapel & the Dog and Bacon, edited by Susan C. Djabri, published 2012 (Horsham Museum Society) accessible at: Horsham Museum Society

Two Sussex Suffragette sisters and the centenary of the Long march of the Brown women, by Spencer Thomas, published 2012 in West Sussex History, the Journal of West Sussex Archives Society (no. 80, article, p.25) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 16404/80] & The Keep [LIB/500504]

Women with children not welcome, published 2013 in West Sussex History, the Journal of West Sussex Archives Society (no. 81, article, p.24) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 16404/81] & The Keep [LIB/507838]

The lady fired splendidly': Lewes and the Women's Suffrage Campaign, by Frances Stenlake, published 2014 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 152, article) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 18617] & The Keep [LIB/508097] & S.A.S. library   View Online

In its reaction to the women's suffrage campaign conducted throughout the country during the years preceding the First World War, Lewes hardly lived up to its reputation for radicalism. Although certain eminent Lewesians, exhorted by members of the non-militant Brighton and Hove Women's Franchise Society, eventually formed a Lewes branch of the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies, this was of limited effect in promoting the cause. The problem for constitutional campaigners was that, in Lewes, confusion between non-militant Suffragists and law-breaking 'Suffragettes' prevailed. The proximity of Brighton and the well-publicised activity of militant activists there, members of the Women's Social and Political Union, caused the authorities in Lewes to be in constant fear of infiltration and destruction of property, especially while the organiser of the Brighton and Hove branch of the WSPU lodged in Southover High Street. The detention in Lewes Prison of women's suffrage campaigners convicted of criminal action contributed to the popular conception of all female campaigners for women's suffrage as bogeywomen, fit only to be impersonated by cross-dressed men in torch-lit processions, and burnt as effigies at Bonfire. The local press provides the only documentation of women's suffrage campaigning in Lewes, but there was no particularly sympathetic newspaper printed in the town. The success of the Cuckfield and Central Sussex Women's Suffrage Society, by contrast, owed much to the assured support of the Mid Sussex Times, printed in Haywards Heath, which repeatedly emphasised that, as a branch of the NUWSS, the CCSWSS was constitutional and law-abiding.

Antipathy to ambivalence: Politics and Women Police in Sussex, 1915-45 , by Derek Oakensen, published 2015 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 153, article, pp.171-189) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 18934] & The Keep [LIB/509033] & S.A.S. library   View Online

The genesis of women's entry into policing can be found in social changes generated by the First World War and by the pre-war women's suffrage movement. But acceptance and integration were entirely different matters. Quite apart from any fear of proponents' political motivation, the idea that women should be allowed to patrol the streets represented a fundamental challenge to long-standing orthodoxies. Real decision-making power lay, in any case, with antipathetic police authorities and chief constables of the six forces in the county rather than with central government; and lobbying, however well-organised, could take years to precipitate change. What emerged were six distinct approaches which changed with time over the following 30 years. But, in most of Sussex, decision-makers remained ambivalent: the notion that women could be constables and a permanent feature of policing structures was not to be finally settled until well after 1945.

Hesworth Farm, Fittleworth: the meaning of family and the feminist viewpoint, by Anthony Poole, published 2015 in West Sussex History, the Journal of West Sussex Archives Society (no. 83, article, p.26) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 16404/83] & The Keep [LIB/508996]

Charlotte Mason: Hidden Heritage and Educational Influence, by Margaret A. Coombs, published 24 September 2015 (376 pp., James Clarke and Co. Ltd., ISBN-10: 0718894022 & ISBN-13: 9780718894023) accessible at: West Sussex Libraries

As the acknowledged founder and philosopher of the Parents' National Educational Union (PNEU), Charlotte Mason was revered by her followers as a saintly Madonna figure. She died in 1923 at the peak of her fame, having achieved mythic status as the Principal of her House of Education and wide recognition after the introduction of her liberal educational programmes into state schools. Yet her early life and heritage remained shrouded in mystery. Drawing upon insubstantiated sources, the official biography released in 1960 confused rather than illuminated Charlotte's background, contributing to several enduring misapprehensions. In her new and definitive biography, Margaret Coombs draws on years of research to reveal for the first time the hidden backdrop to Charlotte Mason's life, tracing the lives of her previously undiscovered Quaker ancestors to offer a better understanding of the roots of her personality and ideas. Coombs charts her rise from humble beginnings as an orphaned pupil-teacher to great heights as a lady of culture venerated within prestigious PNEU circles, illustrating how with determination she surmounted the Victorian age's rigid class divisions to achieve her educational vision. A thorough analysis of Charlotte Mason's educational influences and key friendships challenges longstanding notions about the roots of her philosophy, off ering a more realistic picture of her life and work than ever accomplished before. With a growing following in the USA and Australia, Charlotte Mason's ideas have a clear relevance to the continuing educational debate today. Admirers of her philosophy and scholars of the history of education will fi nd much to enthral and instruct them in these pages.

Rehabilitating Kate Fowler Tutt, 1868-1954: Lewes educationalist, social activist and feminist, by Frances Stenlake, published 2016 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 154, article, pp.273-290) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 18939] & The Keep [LIB/509465] & S.A.S. library

Sensory geographies and defamiliarisation: migrant women encounter Brighton Beach, by Sally R. Munt, published 2 August 2016 in Gender, place and culture: a journal of feminist geography (vol. 23, article, pp.1093-1106)